"People think he doesn’t let loose, but he can" reveals Gunners star who credits win over Bayern for boosting his team-mates' self-confidence

Bossy: Walcott says Wenger's men did "need a little kick up the backside"

He is the man Arsene Wenger could be turning to this weekend to play up front for Arsenal, with Olivier Giroud suspended.

Although the Gunners are no longer masters of their own Champions League destiny, Theo Walcott is calling for a big finish to at least give them a chance of punching their weight among the continent's big boys again next season.

Wenger’s men have gone on to win four of their subsequent five, and Walcott admits the Arsenal boss has had to adopt the famed hairdryer - more often associated with Old Trafford counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson - to get the Gunners going.

He said: “He lets us know [if we haven’t performed well] the following day, that’s for sure. There have been a couple of those this year.

“People think he doesn’t let loose, but he can - just in quite a calm way. We all understand how much it means to him, as well as to us, and how much belief he has in us. That should be enough to spur us on to do it for him.”

While Arsenal’s recent run has taken them third place going into the weekend, Walcott admits they should have produced that kind of form earlier in the season instead of now, as part of the scramble for the Champions League places.

Alexander Hassenstein

Thumbs up: Koscielny scored in Arsenal's encouraging win over Bayern

Speaking to Sport magazine, he added: “We need to be having a bit more of a go at the league, definitely. We want to compete, and we can do it.

“You saw when everyone was against us we had a great result like the one at Bayern - winning 2-0 away from home and then doing the same at Swansea. So we can do it; it’s in us.

“We just haven’t been at that consistent level to do it at times. We did need a little kick up the backside to get us back on track.

“But, lately, I think we’ve worked harder as a unit, kept more clean sheets - everyone is in their positions and there’s more communication.

“I think you can see that the players want it a bit more because they want to prove people wrong. We want to show that we’re still a top four team. Next year, though, we want to be right up there.”

While the pressure will be back on Wenger should Arsenal finish out of the Champions League places, Walcott believes any such criticism would be unfair.

He maintains it should be the players, rather than the Frenchman, who shoulder the blame for the club’s perceived underachievement this season.

Walcott went on: “He obviously puts his message and tactics across at training, but if we don’t do the job on a weekend, it can’t be down to the manager. We need to step up ourselves and not always let the manager take the blame.

“He always puts it back on himself and protects the team, but us players know that we’re the ones who go out there and play. We do the job.”

Former Arsenal striker Robin van Persie returns a title winner on Sunday, just a season after leaving the Emirates.